Welcome to the Brookfield Animal Hospital Blog! We are excited to share veterinary community news and pet care information with you. We are committed to client education because we believe that an informed pet owner is a better pet owner, and we encourage all of our clients to keep up-to-date on the information that we share here in our blog.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Make Sure They Can Get Home: Check Your Pet's Microchip

Is your pet's microchip up-to-date? If your pet were lost,
would an animal hospital or shelter be able to contact you once your pet was
found?

It's important to
get your pet microchipped; but it's just as important to make sure that
microchip contains the correct information in order for your four-legged friend
to get home.

That's why the American Animal Hospital
Association (AAHA) and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) are
teaming up to encourage pet owners to update their pet's microchip information
on National Check the Chip Day, Aug. 15.

Almost 9.6 million pets are euthanized every
year because their owners can't be found, according to the American Humane
Association. While tags and collars are important, microchipping is a valuable
method because the microchip won't wear out, tear, slip off or become lost.

How does a microchip work?
The microchip, which is about the size of a grain of rice, is injected by a
veterinarian or veterinary technician just beneath your pet's skin in the area
between the shoulder blades. This is usually done without anesthesia, and the
experience can be compared to getting a vaccination.

Each microchip has a unique registration
number that is entered into a database or registry, and is associated with your
name and contact information. If your lost dog or cat is found by an animal
hospital, shelter or humane society, they will use a microchip scanner to read
the number and contact the registry to get your information.

Make sure you can be found, too
While it may be comforting to know the microchip won't get lost or damaged, and
that it will probably last the pet's lifetime, the microchip is useless if
you're not updating your contact information with the registry. If your pet has
been microchipped, keep the documentation paperwork so you can find the contact
information for the registry. If you don't have the documentation paperwork,
contact the veterinarian or shelter where the chip was implanted.

Keep in mind there are more than a dozen
companies that maintain databases of chip ID numbers in the U.S. By using
AAHA's Universal Pet Microchip Lookup at petmicrochiplookup.org, you can locate the registry for your chip
by entering the microchip ID number. If you don't have your pet's microchip ID
number, have a veterinarian scan it and give it to you.

Only about 17% of lost dogs and 2% of lost
cats ever find their way back to their owners. Prevent the heartache and ensure
your pet has an up-to-date microchip.